Antifriction bearing



Jem, 13, 1925.

J. F. OCONNOR ANTIFRICTION BEARING Filed April, 1921 Patented Jan. i3, T925.

UITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN F. OCONNOB, OF CHICAGO, TLLINOS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSGNMENTS, T W'. H. MNER, NC., CGR'ORATTON OF DELAWARE.

AN'TIFBXCTON BEARING.

Application led April 6, 1921. Serial No. 459,070.

To all whom it may concern.' truck bolster and body bolster of a railway 55 Be it known that l, JOHN F. OCONNOR, car and showing my improvements in cona citizen of the United States, residing at nection therewith. Figure 2 is a top plan Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of view of the anti-friction bearing proper, de-

5 lllinois, have invented a certain new and taclied, shown in Figure 1. And Figure 3 useful Improvement in Antifriction Bearis a vertical, sectional view taken transverse- 60 ings, of which the following is a full, clear, ly of the side bearing and lengthwise of concise, and exact description, reference bethe bolsters, corresponding substantially to ing had to the accompanying drawings, the line 3--3 of Figure l.

forming a part of this specification. In said drawing, l() denotes the upper rlhis invention relates to improvements in portion `of a truck bolster which may be of 65 antifreton bearings, any desired form having-an upper bearing As is well known, it is highly essential surface arranged to cooperate with the side that manufacturers and sellers of railway bearing. 11 indicates the lower or under i5 Supplies so make their product that it may side of an opposed body bolster and to which be shipped to the various car builders in 'an my improved side bearing is adapted to be 70 assembled condition so as to avoid any posattached on the under side thereof in a desibility of loss of parts accidentally or by pending position. As understood by those theft in transit and minimize possibility of skilled in the art, the two bolsters will be 2o the product. being improperly applied to i pivotally connected at their centers by the the Cars, This is particularly true 0f Side king pin or other equivalent structure and 75 bearings which necessarily include elements the two bolsters adapted to move relatively that are relatively movable. in circular paths.

One object of my invention is to provide The improved bearing, as shown, coman anti-friction bearing which is especially prises, broadly, a housing or retaining memdesigned for use as a body bolster side bearber designated generally by the reference 80 ing on railway cars, the construction being A; a pair of anti-friction elements B-B; a such that it may be readily assembled at bearing plate C; and a filler block D. the place of manufacture and shipped with- The housing or retaining member A, as

out danger of loss of any parts or derangeshown, is formed with a top wall 1Q extendment thereof to thereby insure the side bearing from end to end of the retaining mem- 85 ing reaching its destination in proper conber; depending parallel spaced side walls dition and avoiding possibility of the parts lf3- 13; and laterally extended lugs let-4, being improperly applied to the car. said lugs being perforated and adapted to Another object of the invention is to proreceive rivets or other suitable fastening lvide an anti-friction bearing of the chardevices 15 therethrough for the purpose of 9o acter indicated which is composed of few securing the member A in position. The

parts each of which may be manufactured top wall 12 is thickened at the center thereat a comparatively small cost and wherein of on the under side as indicated at 16 and the load is taken on the anti-friction eleis also provided with an opening at its center ments proper n suoli way as to place the which opening is of rectangular form in 95 anti-friction elements proper solely under its main part as indicated at 114 with lateral compression and free from bending, torrelatively narrow extensions 118-118 on sional or eccentric loads. each side, as best shown in Figure 2. The Another object of the invention is to proopening 117-118 is of such size and form vide a body bolster side bearing for railway as to just permit the insertion and removal of 100 cars so designed that the anti-friction elethe anti-friction elements B, hereinafter ment or elements return to normal position described. after removal of the actuating force, without In the illustration shown, employ two the use of springs or other relatively delicate anti-friction elements B, each of like conineans likely to get out of order. struction and in the form of a true solid i05 In the drawing forming a part of this cylinder of the desired diameter and length, specification, Figure l is a vertical sectional preferably 3 in diameter and 31/2 to e view taken through the end portions of a in length. At each end, each roller B is to the side walls. The guide grooves 18, as

formed, obviously provide .lower inturned oppositely disposed curved Hanges 19 which act as supports for the studs of the rollers when the latter are not under load. Each of said guide grooves 18 is upwardly curved.

at its ends, said upwardly curved Aend por- Vtions corresponding` to relatively short radii and united at the bottom of the housing A by another arcuate section struck on a comparatively long radius. At the center of the member A, a vertically extending groove or passage 2O is formed in alinement with the portions 118 of the opening in the top of the member A and opening at their lower ends into'said guide grooves 18 so that the rollers B, after insertion through the opening in the top of the member A are permitted to drop down into position, as will be understood. The spacing of the side walls of the member A and the length of the. rollers B, are made such that there is a slight clearance between the ends of the rollers and said side walls as indicated at 21, this arrangement permitting free rolling of the rollers B but at the same time preventing any appreciable twisting or displacement of the rollers with respect to the, side walls of the member A.

Thethickened portion 16 of the top wall of the member A is undercut on opposite sides of the opening 117 so as to provide downwardly facing shoulders 22-22 against which the wear plate C bears and is prevented from movement in an upward direction. Said plate C is of rectangular form and is inserted within the retaining member A throughhorizontally alined slots 23-23 in f the side walls 13, as best shown in Figure 3.

for the end of a riveting tool on the interior of the retaining member A.

In commercial practice, the retaining 1 member A will preferably be made of malleable iron; the rollers of white iron; the plate -lowermost normal position,

C of temperedy steel; and theV block D of malleable iron. Fromrthis itvw-illY 'be seen that the cost of manufacture of'each part is kept at a very small figure and each part is of substantiahrugged construction. In assembling, the rollers B are first introduced successively through the opening in the top wall of the retaining member A, the plate C ythen inserted, the block D next inserted, and finally the block D and plate C rigidly united. When so assembled, it is evident that'inone'of the-parts can be removed or displacedV without destructive effect on at least some part vofthe device,

thus effectively preventing any lossor mis-` placement of parts or tampering with the device. Inactual practice, the upper bearing peripheral surfaces of the rollers B will be slightly spaced from the plate C when the bearing is not'in action so that the weight of the rollers will be sustained by the studs 17.

' Inl operation, when the two Abolsters 1() and 11 approach each other, the load will be taken by the two rrollersB, the latter being under compression only.v In this connection it will be noted that there is a solid mass of metal between the lupper bearing surfaces of the rollers B and the bolster 11 so that neither the plate C norV roller B. Upon separation of the bolsters 10 and 11 sufficiently to remove the load from the rollers B, both will be supported by their studs 17 on the fianges 19 and, due to the fact that one of them has been elevated as for instance to the position B', it will automatically seek to Areturn to its thus not only returning itself but also forcing'4 thevother roller B back to its normal position.

rendered self-centering without-the aid of springs or other weak devices, and there is always insured at least one of the rollers being in proper position to receive the load and with suiiicient freedom for full travel. It will further be observed that, even though the bearing is subject to jarring or vibration whenV the rollers are notl 'under load, nevertheless itL is practically i1npossible for both taneously jarred to a position whereneither of them is in a conditionto receive the load since, if 'thee'ect' of the jar or vibration is to shift-one roller in one direction, `Vthe other roller must necessarily be subject to rollers l.to be.v simul-w In this manner the anti-friction elements are shifting in the same direction and vice versa.

l have herein shown and described what I now consider the preferred manner of carrying out the invention, but the same is merely illustrative and l contemplate all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

l claim:

l. ln an anti-friction bearing adapted for attachment to the under side of a body bolster or the like, the combination with a retaining member having depending side walls and a top wall extending from end to end, said top wall having an opening therethrough, of an upper bearing plate closing said opening; means secured to said plate for preventing lateral movement of said plate in its own plane, said bearing plate being confined against movement in all other directions by direct engagement with said retaining member; an anti-friction element mounted between and guided by said side walls, said element being insertable and removable only through said opening, said element being arranged to roll back and forth within said member and with its periphery engaging with said bearing plate, said element in part depending below said side walls and adapted to engage with an opposed bearing surface; and co-operating means on said side walls and element by which the element is supported and automatically returned to normal position under the influence of gravity, said means including, extensions from the ends of said element and guideways therefor in said side walls, said guideways being higher at their ends than at the center, said element being non-removable from said retaining member without destructive effect.

2. ln an anti-friction bearing adapted for attachment to the under side of a body bolster or the like, the combination with a retaining member having depending side walls and a top wall extending from end to end, said top wall having an opening therethrough and downwardly facing shoulders on the bottom side thereof, an upper bearing plate larger than the top of said opening for closing said opening and engaging the downwardly facing shoulders, thereby preventing upward displacement of said plate; of a plurality of anti-friction elements mounted between and guided by said side walls, said elements being insertable and removable only through said opening, said elements being arranged to roll back and forth and with their peripheries in engagement with said bearing plate, portions of said elements normally depending below said side walls and adapted to cooperate with an opposed bearing surface; and cooperating means on said side walls and elements by which the latter are supported attachment to the under and adapted to be returned to normal position under the influence of gravity, said means including, extensions from the ends of each element and guideways therefor on said side walls, said guideways being higher at their ends than at the center, said elements being non-removable from said retaining member without destructive effort.

in an anti-friction bearing adapted for side of a body bolster or the like, the combination with a retaining member having depending side walls and a top wall extending from end to end, said top wall having an opening provided therein; of a roller mounted between and guided by said side walls, said roller being insertable through said opening in the top wall and non-removable otherwise from between said side walls; an upper bearing late on the interior of said retaining meinber, the latter having downwardly facing shoulders cooperable with said plate to prevent withdrawal thereof when in operative position; and a filler block occupying said opening in the top wall having its upper surface flush with the upper surface of the top wall, said block and plate being rigidly united.

4i. ln an anti-friction bearing of the character described adapted for attachment to the under side of a body bolster or the like, the combination with a retaining member having depending side walls and a top wall, said side walls being provided onthe inner sides thereof with corresponding supporting guideways having their ends upwardly eX- tended above the central portions thereof, said top wall being provided with an opening therethrough and with downwardly facing shoulders on the bottom side thereof; of a plurality of rollers each having centrally disposed studs at the ends thereof operating in said guideways and normally supported by said side walls, said rollers being insertable and removable only through said opening in the top wall; a wear plate on the under side of said top wall and engageable with said shoulders; and a filler block occupying said opening in the top wall, said block being 'rigidly united to said plate to thereby prevent removal of either the block, plate or rollers.

5. In a body bolster side bearing, the combination with a retaining member having a horizontal top wall and depending side walls, said top wall having a central opening therein and the side walls provided on their inner' faces with opposed guideways, each guideway providing an inturned lower supporting flange, the flanges being upwardly curved at their ends; of a pair of anti-friction rollers, each of said rollers having integral studs at the ends thereof, said rollers being insertable and removable only through said opening, and, in normal position, sustainedV by said studs on said guide-support ing forl the-latter between iti -andftli'eunde'r ing flanges; a Wear plate insert ldisposed side of the body bolster.

Within Vsaid retaining member and located In Witness thatI claim the foregoing I on the under side of said top Wall, said plate have hereunto subsoiibedmy vname this 22nd 5 insert being non-removable from the retainday of Meh., 1921.'

ing member through said opening when the plate isv in voperative position;v and a illei JOHN F' OCONNOR' blockv occupying said opening in the top lVitnesSes': Wall, said'iller bloekbeing rigidly' secured CARRIE GAILING,

10 to the Wear plate insert and forming a baek- UNA C; PERIN.= 

